A Church of Fear vs. the Alien Within is the title of total installation transforming the German pavilion at Giardini into a church of the artist’s – Christoph Schlingensief – youth. The artist conceived this installation in 2008 as second part of his illness trilogy. Suffering from lung cancer to which he succumbed last year, he hasn’t been able to see the project till its end. Instead, it has been completed posthumously by the pavilion curator Susanne Gaensheimer and Schlingensief’s wife Aino Laberenz.

The installation has been awarded this years’ Golden Lion prize for national pavilions. Very sad that the artist couldn’t accept this prestigious award in person anymore.